Transgender woman is disqualified from Ohio House race for not using her former name

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 313 points –
Transgender woman is disqualified from Ohio House race for not using her former name
nbcnews.com
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I'm afraid that's a pretty poor argument. It's not inherently more mature to subject yourself things that harm you because there exist things that can harm you out in the world.

Please try listening to trans people about their experiences. Deadnaming isn't just using a old name. For a lot of people, it's kind of like being called the worst nickname your high school bully had for you, except that everyone in your life, your parents, your friends, everyone, has only called you that for years and years. Some people have a better or at least neutral relationship to their deadname, but it's still considered incredibly impolite to reference generally speaking.

In regards to this rule, I don't see a legitimate argument for excluding name changes from marriage and not similarly applying this exception for name changes for trans people (ie associated with a gender marker change, if we want similar criteria to differentiate from other name changes). Both are life events that should be considered normal and regular and not associated with potential fraud. Either this rule applies equally to everyone, or it shouldn't be applied at all (like it hasn't been applied in decades to the extent that it isn't even on the official form).

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